subject: CRM – The Key To Business Growth [print this page] CRM The Key To Business Growth CRM The Key To Business Growth
To deal with the challenge of enhanced business performance which translates into sustainable and profitable growth, organizations need to enhance the economic value of their customers.
Enhanced economic value of the customers would depend upon the relationship organizations develop, sustain and grow with them over a period of time.
The key lies in Effective customer relationship management (CRM) which by large is one of the most critical parameter for measuring business performance.
CRM solutions provide the processes and tools to efficiently handle customer related data catering to the entire spectrum of activities namely sales, service, lead generation, account planning, contact management, order management, inventory planning, forecasting, billing, delivery management etc.
CRM helps an organization to focus on various areas of business such as:
Effective data management which enables behavioral and value segmentation of their customers so that differential and targeted product and service offerings can be made to them.
CRM techniques further help in forecasting desired customer response in relation to either a new product launch or when playing with the price of an existing product thereby having a direct impact on conversion and customer retention.
Various analytical tools can be employed to test the usability and effectiveness of marketing techniques employed by organizations. It can evaluate whether these marketing messages have been communicated at the most effective point of contact (POC) or not, so as to have the maximum positive impact on the buying behavior of customers. Simultaneously, customer insights can be used to predict the buying behavior and to help design customized marketing campaigns targeted for improved customer acquisition.
Another aspect of successful business performance involves segregating customers into niche categories like the more profitable and the less profitable ones on the basis of return (revenue potential) on investment (relationship maintenance cost).
CRM tools help business executives to evaluate this value proposition against their overall financial target and business objectives.
Hence to enhance the effectiveness of CRM as a business strategy, organizations need to deploy a number of CRM software applications to make customer management more customer-centric.
The applications offer specialized and vertical solutions to various niche areas.
Organizations can opt for either a web based pay-per-use solution or a more comprehensive hosted CRM solution as per their budget and requirement.
Irrespective of the choice, the prime factor governing this would be a clear understanding of the business strategy and potential value of the relationship in terms of economic returns.
CRM is an indispensable capability for any business to compete for customer attention and loyalty while CRM technology offers the mechanism to convert customer insights into impactful action for attaining the ultimate business objective.
